


all the small things

by daenerystargaryenwasright



Category: Women's Soccer RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Eventual Happy Ending, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Mutual Pining
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-28
Updated: 2020-03-28
Packaged: 2021-03-01 02:40:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,161
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23357908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/daenerystargaryenwasright/pseuds/daenerystargaryenwasright
Summary: alex morgan knows all she needs to know about herself, her hometown, and the people in it until she doesn't.or, how her best friend, a group of freshmen, a new kid, and a girl with the prettiest green eyes alex has ever seen teach her about who she is, the world, and just being 16
Relationships: Alex Morgan/Christen Press
Comments: 3
Kudos: 46





	all the small things

**Author's Note:**

> fair warning, I wrote this all in one go within an hour of posting it (3am). It wasn't proofread or edited. also, I know this could be considered an odd pairing but I wanted to try something different to sling shot me back into writing. Id appreciate it if anyone who reads the would let me know their honest opinion and if I should continue.

Alex has been to Kelley’s house a million and one times. She knows that the crew that paved the driveway made it slightly crooked, so every time Kelley backs out of it without aiming slightly to the left, the right side of the car would drop off of the curb. She knows that the reason that the O’Hara’s are missing two bars from the railing of their wooden porch is because nine year old Kelley put seven year old Jerry’s head through it when he’d stolen her left soccer cleat and refused to give it back until Kelley agreed to trade her mandated TV remote possession time for it. She knows the patched hole in the living room wall which doesn’t quite match the rest of the room, about handstand height for twelve year old Kelley, who had kicked through it while showing Alex her new skill. She even knows the ring of hard packed dirt around the old oak tree in the backyard where grass was unable to grow due to the foot traffic of three children plus any friends they invited over, which had been the site of many injuries.

Which is why Alex is surprised when she flings open the door to Kelley’s old Toyota Corolla that she had inherited when Erin got a new car for college, and sees a vaguely familiar girl standing on the porch of Kelley’s next door neighbor. The girl was holding textbooks and fumbling with a lanyard of keys. She pauses and turns her head to the left, blushing when she realizes that she had had an audience. 

Alex watches as the girl clumsily adjusts the strap of her backpack so it sits higher on her shoulder then politely waves at her with the hand holding her lanyard. The jingling of the keys catches Kelley’s attention, and she turns toward the sound with her own house key poised for the lock on the front door that never gets locked anyway. 

“Hey, Chris. Need a hand?” Kelley asks. Her own backpack is hanging off of her right shoulder, looking pathetically empty compared to the large one that Christen was wearing. Without waiting for an answer, Kelley moves toward the short fence that divides their front yards and sets her hands on it, ready to vault over. 

The girl, Chris, shakes her head quickly. “No. You don’t have to do that, Kelley; I’m fine,” She brings the hand holding her lanyard up to push back her curly hair, and smacks herself in the face with the bundle of keys. Alex can’t hold in the huff of laughter and the girl turns impossibly more red at the sound. “Didn’t Mr. O’Hara tell you to stop jumping the fence like that anyway?” 

Kelley chuckles, leaning her weight on her arms. “Dan did way worse in his day; I think he can handle a broken fence.” Alex isn't surprised when the girl laughs softly. Kelley had an almost scary ability to make anyone laugh, it was one of her most well-known qualities at school. “Are you sure you don’t want help? You’ve got two big, strong soccer players to help you. Some girls would kill for that.” 

“Positive. I’ll save the favor for another time.” Chris smiles at Kelley and shoots a soft one at Alex so quick that the soccer player would have missed it if she hadn’t been watching the girl so intensely, before returning to her task. 

Kelley turns away from the fence and slings an arm over Alex’s shoulders to drag her towards the door. “Are you sure we shouldn’t have helped,” Alex asks, glancing over her shoulder to see the girl stick the key in the lock but drop a book from the top of her stack. “Who even carries that many books anyway?” 

“Nah,” Kelley shrugs and turns the unlocked knob, her key forgotten in her pocket. “Chris asks for help when she wants it. If she says no that means she doesn’t need it.” She enters the house and tosses her backpack off of her shoulder and into a corner while her other hand fishes her keys out of her pocket and deposits them into the glass bowl where another set of keys already sits -- Jerry’s, judging by the lack of a car key on the ring. 

They enter the kitchen to find Jerry standing in front of the open refrigerator, scanning the shelves for something to eat. “Kel, you think Erin will mind if I--”

“Yes.” Kelley cuts her brother off before he even finishes his sentence. He pulls his head out of the fridge to glare weakly at his older sister before he notices Alex and gives her a smile. Alex reciprocates the action, rolling her eyes when Kelley shoves the boy out of the way so that she can snatch Erin’s Kit-Kat. 

“Wha--But you said she would mind if I ate it!” Jerry protests as Kelley rips open the wrapper and breaks off a stick to hand to Alex. He reaches out to snatch the remainder of the candy, but his sister dodges and moves to put the entire kitchen island and Alex between them. 

“Yeah, if _you_ ate it,” Kelley smirks and takes an obnoxious bite. “She won’t care that her favorite sister ate it.” 

Jerry’s jaw drops. “Well, then I'm her favorite brother,” He reaches across the island for it, missing again as Kelley laughs. “Just give me a bite, Kel. I promise I won't tell her it was us if you do.” The boy pleads.

Kelley takes a bite of the last stick as the front door opens. Her eyes widen slightly at the sound of her older sister’s voice as she spoke to someone on the phone. Kelley drops the wrapper on the table and tosses the last of the chocolate to Jerry, who clumsily catches it. The boy looks like a deer caught in headlights as his eldest sister enters the kitchen and stops in her tracks. 

“Um, can I call you back?” Erin asks the person on the other side of the phone. Without waiting for an answer, she hangs up and takes a slow step towards Jerry. The boy gulps and takes a step away from her. 

“H-Hi, Er.” Jerry smiles weakly, hiding the last of the candy behind his back.

“Jerry, I know that isnt my Kit-Kat that I’ve been saving since Sunday,” Erin says slowly as she approaches her younger brother. “Because not even you’re dumb enough to do that.” 

Alex glances at Kelley, who is standing off to the side and hiding a smirk behind her hand. “I dunno, Erin, seems like he did.” 

“Shut up, instigator,” Alex chuckles as she elbows her best friend. “His fight or flight is about to kick in. I bet flight.” 

“Flight? O’Haras aren’t cowards.” Kelley jokes, knowing that her brother is going to make a dash for the back door in the next five seconds if Erin takes a step closer. As predicted, Jerry bolts for the backdoor, screaming about it being Kelley’s fault while Erin chases him. Alex shakes her head fondly and lets Kelley drag her out of the kitchen and towards the stairs. They rush up the stairs giggling at the sound of Jerry pleading for Erin to let him go.

Kelley’s room is the best room in Alex’s opinion. Once Erin graduated from highschool she had begged for what was originally the guest bedroom, citing her unusual schedule as her reason, so she was the only one with her own bathroom as well as the only one on the bottom floor. Alex was there to help during the hot July Saturday when the rooms were scheduled to be switched. It took Kelley, Alex, Jerry, Dan, and two of his golf buddies the entire afternoon to move everything while Erin and her mother watched. 

After the switch, Erin would tease Kelley for having a better room and sneak-out route, but Alex couldn't help but disagree. Kelley’s room was closest to the hall bathroom, which meant that she would beat both Erin and Jerry to the shower every morning until they complained enough to make their mother create a shower schedule. She was also on the right side of the hall and further from her parents’ bedroom, meaning that she could sneak out much easier than either Jerry or Erin. Sure, the older O’Hara had her own bathroom and no longer had to creep down the stairs, but Alex didn’t think it outweighed all the pros of Kelley’s room. Even if a large reason for her belief was the pure nostalgia that Kelley’s bedroom held for both girls.

Alex sighs when Kelley leaves the room for the fourth time since they started their homework to grab something she had forgotten in either her car or downstairs in a random spot. Her phone vibrates, most likely a text from the boy in her history class who was determined to woo her, and rolls her eyes as she checks the screen. 

She’s wrong. It turns out to be a message from her mother asking if she’ll be home for dinner or if she’s spending it with the O’Hara’s again. She glances towards Kelley’s window, which she expects to be covered by curtains, but instead finds the window uncovered, showing the mostly set sun. 

Kelley rushes back in a moment later with her textbook tucked under her arm. “Mom made spaghetti, so I assume you’re staying for dinner.” she tosses the book on the bed, narrowly avoiding Alex’s leg. 

“What did you do to your curtains,” Alex asks. It had only been five days since she’d last been in Kelley’s room, and the girl hasn't mentioned anything about them. “I swear you had some the last time we hung out here.” 

The shorter girl turns red. “Jerry and I set them on fire.” She mumbles. 

“What? And you didn't tell me?” Alex exclaims. 

“We were playing with a can of hairspray and a lighter and things got kinda out of control,” Kelley shrugs. “We had it handled though. Didn't even need the fire department.” 

Alex narrows her eyes at the best friend. “And you didn’t think to tell me?” 

“Like I said, Al, we didn’t need the fire department which means it wasn't a big enough deal to mention. Now c’mon, Mom missed you more than she misses me.” Kelley throws an arm around her shoulder again and guides her out of the room. 

Dinner is fun as always. Alex finds herself laughing harder at Kelley’s father than she does at actual comedians. Both Erin and Jerry loudly recount the Kit-Kat incident, which had been broken up when their mother returned from the store to find Erin attacking Jerry with a large couch cushion. Alex would be lying if she said that she didn’t enjoy the company of the O’Hara family. 

After dinner they return to homework. Alex finishes her english questions while Kelley is still reading the assigned pages as slow as possible in hopes that Alex will cave and share her answers. 

Movement from the house next door catches Alex’s eye, stealing her attention from her instagram feed. She ignores Kelley’s begging and turns her attention to the window facing Kelley’s. “Isn’t it weird having your window directly across from someone else’s?” she asks. 

“Huh? No. I had the curtains closed all the time,” Kelley answers. “Now can I please copy? I bet she won't even notice!” 

Alex absentmindedly hands Kelley her paper, keeping her attention focused on the grey curtains covering the opposite window, wondering how she’s made it this far in her life without ever interacting with the girl from earlier or the rest of her family. They don’t move again, and Alex eventually gets tired of watching when Kelley finally finishes her homework and decides to drive Alex home. 

Her own house is much more quiet than the O’Hara's, and Alex is slightly thankful for the peace as she prepares to shower. She doesn’t get fifteen minutes into it before someone bangs on the door and complains that she’s taking too long. 

“Fuck off, Jeri!” Alex calls, chuckling when she hears her sister huff and stomp away from the bathroom. Her small victory lasts until the water turns ice cold. She jumps away from the spray and curses, fumbling for the faucets to stop the shower. 

Later on when being cross examined by her parents, she’ll deny throwing the sandal at Jeri’s head that knocks her sister into the wall and gives her a bruise on her forehead. But she swears that if she had done it, it would’ve been completely justified. 

She gets sent to her room with a warning and the instruction to apologize to her sister, which she does with a small smirk. She plugs her charger into her phone and settles into bed. It only takes five minutes of scrolling through her explore page to be knocked out like a light. 

**Author's Note:**

> okay, they haven't even met properly yet and this was a jumbled mess (I am sleep deprived!). this was just my weak attempt to set up alex's side of the stuff. next chapter will probably be christen's turn. I don't even have any plans for them to meet next chapter. I know this was all over the place but I'll polish it up eventually.
> 
> ps. these outlandish things that the o’hara family does are just things that have happened to my own family


End file.
